What is the Great Tribulation – Has conventional teaching been misleading?  

There is only 1 place in the Bible (NIV) the word Tribulation is used. That is Revelation 7: 14. Rev 7:13-14 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes – who are they and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb".

This occurs after the 6^th seal has been opened and the 144,000 Jewish people have been sealed with the mark of God on their foreheads. This is right after seals 1-6 have been opened.

So that leaves us with the question – what is the Great Tribulation? From the reading of the text and its timing there are only 2 possibilities:

1. Living a life following Christ in this fallen world.
2. Living through the opening of seals 1–6.

Based on the Earth’s history since Jesus was taken up, I make the claim that you could support the fact that Seals 1-5 have been opened. Especially since last century say more martyrs for Jesus than any of the other centuries COMBINED!

Seal 6 is going to be such a spectacular event there will be no doubt about what it is. We can conclude the rapture happens after the 6^th seal is opened because now we see believers from all over the world before the thrown and we know they have come out of the great tribulation.

I think that Seals 1-6 are the Great Tribulation. Trumpets 1-7 are God’s Wrath with mercy. Bowls 1-7 are God’s full wrath. Notice that after Trumpet 6, with God’s mercy, still men won’t repent. Trumpets 5 and 6 are the first and second woe – what is the third woe? You could consider Trumpet 7 the third woe, but it is the declaration of the Kingdom of God. The next place the word Woe is mentioned is in reference to the devil being cast down to earth and then when Babylon Falls.

I believe the third woe is the antichrist who becomes a major character in Rev 13-19 after the 7^th Trumpet has sounded. During the time of the antichrist, the Wrath of God is fully poured out on man. God gives everyone one more chance after the antichrist arises; he has 3 angels go world wide proclaiming the eternal gospel, the fall of Babylon, and what happens if you take the mark of the beast.

Jesus takes care of stopping the antichrist, the false prophet and the devil in chapter 19 and sets up his 1,000-year kingdom.

In conclusion, I believe we can safely say the Church has been raptured before the rise of the antichrist, which would agree with the traditional interpretation of 2 Thess 2:1-4.

Quick Review of Revelation:

Let us review the seals:

1. The conqueror on a white horse
2. Slayer on a red horse
3. Scarcity on a black horse
4. Death and Hades on a pale horse (could be on separate horses, only one horse is mentioned) with power over ¼ of the earth.
5. Martyrs under the altar
6. Great Earthquake, Sun turns black, whole moon turns blood read, Stars fall down from the sky, sky recedes like a scroll, mountains and islands removed from their places. –

   Men cry out to the mountains and the rocks "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the

   WRATH of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?"

 

Right after that the 144,000 are sealed and we see the multitudes in heaven from the Great Tribulation.

Seal 7 is then opened, and is silence for ½ hour in heaven, prayers going up to God, fire from the altar hurled to Earth, the Trumpets start.

Trumpet 1:Hail/Fire/Blood -1/3 Earth burned up, 1/3 trees, all green grass

Trumpet 2: Mountain thrown into the se, 1/3 sea blood, 1/3 sea creatures die, 1/3 ships destroyed.

Trumpet 3: Wormwood (Star from sky) – 1/3 water bitter, many people die

Trumpet 4: 1/3 Sun struck, 1/3 moon, 1/3 stars, so no light 1/3 day and 1/3 night.

3 Woes said by Eagle " Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"

Trumpet 5 (First Woe) – Locusts from the Abyss with power to torment die, but men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die but death will elude them.

Trumpet 6 (Second Woe) – 4 angels bound by the river Euphrates let loose to kill 1/3 of mankind.

Mankind will not repent; John takes the little scroll. Two witnesses tell about God, are murdered, and are resurrected.

Right before Trumpet 7 is sounded, it says the second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon.

Trumpet 7 – The Kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever.

We cut to the woman and the dragon, war in heaven, the overcoming of the devil by our brothers by blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. Then it says

Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But WOE to the Earth and the sea because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short.

Now we see the Beast rise out of the sea, the beast out of the Earth (the false prophet), the mark of the beast. Then we cut to heaven where the Lamb and the144, 000 Jewish people are.

3 Angels declare the eternal gospel, the fall of Babylon, and what happens if you take the mark of the beast. Then we have the harvest of the full wrath of God, 7 bowls.

Bowl 1: Ugly and painful sores on the people who have the beast’s mark

Bowl 2: Sea turns to blood and everything in it dies

Bowl 3: All the rivers and springs become blood.

Bowl 4: Sun scorches people with fire and intense heat

Bowl 5: Darkness in the beast’s kingdom with intense agony

Bowl 6: Euphrates dries up, 3 demons perform signs.

Bowl 7: It is done – Great Earthquake, lightening, thunder, 100-LB hailstones, Babylon Falls.

Jesus returns, Beast and false prophet thrown into the fiery lake, devil is locked up for 1000 years while Jesus reigns.

1000 years pass, devil gets out on parole, stirs up mankind to rebel again, man marches on Jerusalem. Fire comes down from heaven and devours them, devils thrown into the lake of fire, and it is all over. The great White throne judgement occurs, Heaven and earth pass away, dead are judged.

God creates a new heave and earth; New Jerusalem descends from Heaven. God is with us forever more. Come Quickly Lord Jesus!